The constitutional court on Monday held that former president Jacob Zuma’s criminal record barred him from standing for parliament in the 29 May elections.
The court dismissed the argument by Zuma and his uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party that the remission of his 15-month sentence in 2021 for contempt of court meant that the prohibition in section 47(1)(e) of the Constitution no longer applied to him.
This section bars anyone who has been sentenced to 12 or more months in prison without the option of a fine from becoming a member of the National Assembly for five years, and informed the Electoral Commission of South Africa’s (IEC) decision that he was not eligible for parliament.
It was a cornerstone of Zuma’s case that his sentence was, in the end, less than 12 months because in August last year he was a beneficiary of a general remission extended by President Cyril Ramaphosa.
The IEC countered that the president did not have the power to rewrite a court sentence.
“This court concludes that Mr Zuma was convicted of an offence and sentenced to more than 12 months imprisonment for the purposes of section 47(1)(e) of the Constitution and is accordingly not eligible to be a member of and not qualified to stand for election to the National Assembly until five years has lapsed till the completion of his sentence,” Justice Leona Theron read from the judgment.
The court similarly dismissed Zuma’s argument that the prohibition did not apply because he was not convicted of a crime as envisioned in section 47 because he was found guilty of contempt of court.
“This court finds that there is no difference between a conviction following criminal proceedings and a conviction following civil contempt of court proceedings since a person is convicted of a criminal offence in respect of both proceedings,” Theron said.
“Section 47(1)(e) draws no distinction between convictions for civil contempt and other convictions, therefore the ordinary meaning should be given to the word — that it is a criminal offence.”
The apex court held that his 15-month sentence disqualified him in terms of the Constitution and that the remission of the jail term did not alter that fact
